Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Donaghy Update: To the extent it was possible, David Stern "won" his press conference yesterday. In arguably the worst moment of his career, Stern maximized his damage control, offering what seemed like a heart-sick attitude combined with what was undoubtedly a firm grip.

"Isolated case" seems to be the phrase he and his crisis-communication specialists have come up with to insulate the rest of the league. (Here's the reality: Avid fans will continue to watch and follow the NBA; casual fans will continue to erode.)

Vick Update: Roger Goodell offloads the heavy lifting on the Vick case to an ex-US deputy attorney general and stakes out the perfect "it'll take as long as it takes" position on when he might determine whether Vick is allowed to play in the league. Purgatory is as good as a suspension (for now), without the hassle.

The Falcons were reportedly ready to suspend Vick for four games (geez, that's weak), until the NFL told them to hold off and let the big boys handle it. I think there's no doubt that Vick has played his last game for the Falcons. The two big questions: (1) Has he played his last game in the NFL? (Doubtful.) (2) Can the Falcons leverage any clauses about personal conduct in Vick's contract to avoid being crippled by the cap hit of exiling him?

Bonds Update: The chemist who invented the "clear" (aka THG) says he thinks that Barry had to have known he was using steroids. Didn't seem like he offered much proof beyond "How could you NOT know?" which, while compelling (particularly from this expert), does not constitute affirmative proof. (Meanwhile: He had six at-bats last night in a 13-inning loss, and didn't come up with a HR.)

Related: Selig will try to follow Bonds around and be there when he breaks the record. That was the right thing to do. He's the Commissioner of Baseball, not the Commissioner of Fans and Media Who Loathe Bonds.

College Football Media Daze: SEC. I can barely contain myself. Don't be surprised that Florida is my pick to win the conference. (That's like being surprised that Darren McFadden is my SEC P.O.Y.)

The Gators' defense is going to be fast, but young; good thing the offense is going to hang an average of 40-50 ppg on everyone (except LSU). South Carolina is the SEC's most intriguing team. Nick Saban is its biggest storyline. McFadden is its best talent. And let me quash something: Whether you doubt him or love him, Tim Tebow will be far better than you think.

It remains, by far, the toughest conference in college football, where a 1-loss conference champ that seemed to just get by during the conference schedule can absolutely obliterate the unbeaten (and consensus No. 1) best of the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, my Must-Read Post of the Day/Week/Month comes from Orson at EDSBS. You can find it in the post below (or just click here).

MLB Stud: Craig Biggio. After his announcement yesterday that he was retiring after the season, he hit a grand slam to lead the Astros over the Dodgers.

MLB Dud: Randy Johnson implies that his career might be over. Emphasize: Might. Wouldn't surprise me if he was back again next year. Also wouldn't surprise me if he pulled a Clemens and was able to come back for short seasons for years to come.

Trade Deadline Rumors: With a week to go, the biggest name being thrown around is Mark Teixeira. Reportedly: Dodgers, Angels, Braves and Red Sox are interested.

NFL: No, Tedy Bruschi isn't dead... Bears about to sign Lance Briggs... All-Pro OT Tarik Glenn is going to retire... $30,000 isn't a crazy monthly palimony check for Matt Leinart to pay Brynn Cameron to support their baby, when you consider how much money he makes (and what a douchebag father he sounds like he's been so far)... Ben Roethlisberger is dating Missy Peregrym? Now THAT can make HIM the "Hero."

Beckham Watch: Who needs Becks? The Galaxy won without him. Oh, right: But no one was paying attention. THAT'S why they need Becks. (Related: ESPN scores its highest soccer rating ever – a 1.0 – for the Beckham debut. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a 1.0 is roughly a good night on PTI.

Tour de France: When riders are staging protests, rather than starting their stages, the sport is absolutely imploding (even more than you thought it was already). Maybe cycling should adopt a policy where riders get to do ANYTHING they want, chemically. That's closer to a level playing field than where they are now.

NHL: The Senators re-signed breakout goalie Ray Emery, who has the potential – along with Crosby and Ovechkin – to be the Face of Hockey.

Sports on TV: The Donaghy Scandal will define the NBA next season. Still, the league will try to put its best face forward. The word is that the Christmas Day game (which is arguably more important than any single Finals game, particularly when they end as sweeps) will be LeBron vs. Dwyane Wade. They probably should have made it Durant vs. Oden (maybe as the front-end of a double-header?) Noticeably missing: The champs. For obvious reasons.

Pop Culture: I can't believe I haven't talked about this: Simpsons movie opens this Friday. Are your expectations high or low? (By the way, get ready for Friday, where the Comments section will be a tribute to the Simpsons: Your favorite character, episode and quote.)

67 comments:

As long as players can't sue the governing bodies for "making" them use steroids to "keep up" with the others, then yeah, what's the big fuss in letting athletes do stuff like that. I just don't want MY health care costs affected or anything like that. (Well, I suppose if guys are going into roid rage tirades and killing spouses or something....)

Down goes Stern! Down goes Stern! Stern looked absolutely terrified at the press conference yesterday. Am I the only one who feels this way. I think he knows that this thing is going to explode any day now.

BECAUSE the SEC is so good, I can't call Florida the favorite. They lost a lot.

Falcons could only suspend Vick 4 games because that is the max allowable. So, it isn't weak. It's all they could do.

Leinart is a douche.

Soccer bashing is lame. It's been established, Dan. Most Americans don't watch soccer. Thanks. But..um...don't most Americans also only watch their team play? Despite what ESPN thinks, I turn off the TV when the Yanks play the Sox. I'm a Cincy fan. In other words, I wouldn't watch LA play, cuz I'm not an LA fan.

Cycling could be the one of the toughest sports to excel in...which means there will always be someone trying to get an edge. you have to crack down on the providers, not just the users.

rafael already hit what I was going to say. The Falcons could only suspend Vick for 4 games w/o pay. They could have continued his suspension but they would have had to pay (see Johnson, Keyshawn and Owens, Terrell for past examples)

SEC Media Days - I think this year the SEC is completely wide open. UF,UGA,UT,S.Carolina all could win the east and out west it looks like LSU, Auburn or Alabama. If LSU loses to Bama, they might run Miles out of town that day.

If Vick is convicted he will never play in the NFL again and according to Harry Manion who is an attorney with a lot of sports clients and who was on WEEI this morning. Vick is in a lot of trouble. Basically he was saying most federal prosecutors do not bring indicments unless they are 99% sure they can get a conviction. And that the evidence contain in the indicments is pretty bad. And his feelinf was that the other 3 people named are probably already lining up to make a deal to cooperate

"Here's the reality: Avid fans will continue to watch and follow the NBA; casual fans will continue to erode."

The NHL has the exact same thing. But it's true...at least Bettman only has to worry about another potential lockout in say, 2-3 years with the rising salaries again.

Dan, I understand where you're coming from with saying Emery may be a "face of hockey". He's African-American in a predominately white sport, he's got personality, AND tied into Hollywood, but there's just one problem.

Well, it looks like rafael and matt t seem to have out typed me while I was typing that the Falcons could only suspend Vick for 4 games. It's a league rule for max suspension "conduct detremental to the team" aka "you're not convicted, on steriods, or did something wrong on the field, but we still want to suspend you".

Also to the Person who started the Rumor which I guess was about Bruschi (Felger on ESPN 890 did not want to fan the flames and name the player but did confirm he was alive), YOU ARE A COMPLETE A-HOLE!!!!

Guy - I would say Bettman - He has no scandal, he has a solid labour contract, he has a league that is growing thus the Salary Cap going up and give it another year or 2 and they will have a better TV contract or VERSUS will be a more viable entity

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the 4-game suspension the Falcons were about to pass is the maximum suspension they can levy as a franchise, without cutting the player outright.

To me, the easiest thing to do as commissioner is set a new policy - if you are arrested or indicted, you don't play until the trial ends. Whether that means you miss a game, a month, or a season (or more), it would be an awful big detterant to players' bad behavior.

By the way - cmfost/guyinthecorner - do you guys still have day jobs, or what? That's a nice back and forth stream you got going there...

"where a 1-loss conference champ that seemed to just get by during the conference schedule can absolutely obliterate the unbeaten (and consensus No. 1) best of the rest of the country."

Oh please, this is getting completely ridiculous. Florida played their best game of the year that game and OSU came out completely flat offensively and defensively. By far their worst game of the year. Throw in Tedd Ginn's injury and you have a blowout. OSU wins that game 7 out of 10 times, but that is beside the point. Florida showed up when it mattered most.

I know I'm two days early, but I'll be out of town on Friday and can't comment on the Simpsons lines. Feel free to hold this post until then.

"mmmm... Sacrelicious....."

"mmmm... open-faced club sand wedge...."

All-time favorite: A kid (can't remember which one) is holed up in the school with dynamite strapped around his waist. Everyone has surrounded the school waiting to see what will happen next. Chief Wiggum says, "Wait a minute... that's not dynamite! Those are hot dogs.... Armour hot dogs... What kind of kid wears Armour hot dogs?"

That's a nice list, but chances are the Sox will probably get a 1 + 1 deal done for Schilling at about $13M with a mutual option at the same for '09, and don't be surprised if they keep Lowell as a bat off the bench / defensive replacement, assuming they go after A-Rod. Or they trade for Texeira and slide Youk back over the 3B next year.

Wake is on a series of 1-year option contracts, so he'll probably be back, and unless they find another backup catcher who can handle the knuckleball, so will Mirabelli and his Mendoza-esque AVG.

Big D - I actually disagree with you, I do not think Schilling or Wake will be back next year, I think you are looking at the Sox going with Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, Bucholtz and either Schilling or trying to sign say a Zambrano. Also think Lowell is probably gone expecially if they make a trade for Texeria or Cabrera. And no matter what Mirabelli is gone.

And Yes I do have a day job but I am on the phone all day so it is easy to talk and type at the same time.

lawdog1214, that is why I really hate the bowl system. Not because the BCS sucks, but because you are pitting teams against each other a month after the season ends. You end up with a lot of teams playing flat after a month off. It's really hard to determine who the best team is when most teams are playing their best in November and not playing again until January.

Anybody who knows Wakefield's contract and thinks the Red Sox are letting him go is crazy. The contract is that the Sox have a $4 million club option on him every year as long as they keep resigning him till the end of time. Mirabelli costs nothing to keep as well. Therefore, Varitek gets his day off every time through the rotation and you have a backup catcher / 4th starter combo for about $5 million. That's so worth it, that no team would ever turn it down.

good thing the offense is going to hang an average of 40-50 ppg on everyone (except LSU).

Holy shit, Dan. I might as well start here. Look, the offense should be good, but please remember that with largely the same play-makers last year (and a similar lack of anything resembling a true tailback) the offense was... not putting up 40-50 points/game until it had a month to prepare.

People forget this now, but for most of the season in '06, the offensive play-calling was borderline atrocious. Maybe that will change with the full-time QB being the type those coaches are used to, but anyone assuming the offense will be some sort of untouchable, perfectly coached juggernaut clearly has wiped all of 2006 other than the title game from his memory. It may well turn out to be that juggernaut, but... just calm down a little, please.

(I do agree with you that the defense will be better than people fear, and better than most people in Gainesville hope. Similar to last season's offensive line.)

You implied that the Falcons were weak to suspend Vick for 4 is unfair. By rules that is ALL they can suspend him for. Now they can pay him to stay away like the Eagles did with Owens and the Buccs did with Keyshawn Johnson. But you only reported what otther reporters did. The team can not announce they will Pay him to stay away from a PR point of view with it paying customers.

There are to many Simpsons quotes out there for me to consider just one my favorite. I do have all the seasons that have been released so far on DVD and I just watched Season 9 and that is just a murderer's row of episodes. One of my favorite lines is from "Lost Our Lisa" and Homer is on the runaway cherry picker in the water and says this classic:

"I'm normally not a religous man, but if you're up there, save me Superman."

"good thing the offense is going to hang an average of 40-50 ppg on everyone (except LSU)."

Easy Dan, I mean did Spurrier come back to coach and we all missed that? That offense (minus the OSU game) was not dominating anyone in the SEC and seeing as they're breaking in a new QB, I wouldn't expect any super offensive explosion this year.(I know Tebow saw time but it's a whole different story for him this year).

CM, your list looks about right, but in technicality, I believe they are only paying a portion of Hinske's salary.

As per the Wakefield/Schilling thing, I think they're likely to keep one of them. I'd be pretty shocked if Clay Buchholz weren't on the opening day rotation. I think it's likely to be Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Buchholz, Lester as their rotation next year. Really at this point I don't think there's an extra $7/8 million that Schilling would give you over Wakefield, although carrying Mirabelli would be a drag. But the overall point you make is correct, there will indeed be money to go after A-Rod if they choose...

As per the Simpsons Movie, I am very anxious to see it, but I won't be among those that will go see it the first day. They have a lot of the writers from the 'prime' seasons back, right?

I'm totally with Jamie on the 22 Short Films episode. Absolutely brilliant.

I love the hockey shoutout, Dan, but you're out way off base calling Emery a potential face of hockey.

He's looking to be a very good goaltender, but he's not top five in the league and probably never will be. More likely, he'll be a consistent top-10 or -15 goaltender without major star power.

Crosby and Ovechkin are phenoms with unlimited potential who could each win several Hart trophies. Emery's a solid netminder, but he has a very definitive ceiling, and it's extremely unlikely he'll win multiple Vezinas, if any at all. He shouldn't be considered at the same level as guys like Giguere and Luongo, or the potential of guys like Lundqvist and DiPietro.

UF only scored 30 points TWICE last year?!?! USC obviously screwed up their chance (twice), but they would have given UF everything they could handle and more. Too bad the Pac-10 is always to difficult to run the table.

This is a little late as you posted this awhile ago but you said the Red Sox would go after Zambrano and that's just not going to happen. Zambrano will stay in Cubbie Blue.

The only reason he hasn't been signed already is because of the pending ownership deal. But the main contenders are Mark Cuban and Jerry Colangelo and neither of them will let Zambrano get away. Cuban will be willing to spend the money just because he'll have it and Colangelo is from Chicago and loves the Cubs so he'll do it for the talent.

falcons are clearly working with NFL to keep vick out the league without getting into a huge deal with NFLPA as well as not having to take a huge cap hit.

They can suspend him for the four games for conduct detramental - but that wouldn't keep him from camp. NFL took care of the camp, but they are probably waiting to suspend to see if they can push the suspension - they are also probably waiting to see the plea that vick is going to give at his hearing - a plea deal with the gov't would give the falcons room to cancel the contract. They are slow playing the situation to ensure that they don't do anything rash and take a financial hit...they are not going to let him play unless/until he comes back with an innocent verdict.

Zambrano COULD go to the Red Sox, but I would agree that it's unlikely. I'm definitely not sold that it's a done deal for Zambrano to the Cubs. If he hits FA, he'll go where the money's best, simple as that.

All the best lines from the Simpsons come from Homer or Ralph Wiggum (before they overdid Ralph in the last few seasons).

Actually, that was me who said that the NFL can't suspend Vick under the repeat offender policy and I was.... right. He IS a first time offender and they can't suspend him. They banned him from camp because there aren't any rules as to banning people from camp. The Falcons can suspend Vick for 4 games but no more. They are trying to figure out a way to suspend him but can't under the rules. Did you hear a story entitled "NFL suspends Vick for season"? No? Well, that's because they haven't.

The Red Sox can't seriously be interested in Teixeira, can they? Where the hell do they put him? They have a great DH (Ortiz) and a very good 1B (Youkilis), and even though they could conceivably move Youkilis to third, they have arguably the second-best 3B in the league right now (Lowell). This rumor has to be fabricated, right?

Well, he’s kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace “accidentally” with “repeatedly” and replace “dog” with “son.”

Believe me, I'm sure the Sox could find a spot for a 40-HR gold glove first baseman, even if it means putting Youk at third and Lowell on the bench, or maybe moving Youk to the OF - he played in LF for a handful of games when Manny sat out with various, um, "injuries" over the past few seasons.

If there is a legit deal to be made, I can't see them saying "you know what, we're OK with our offense - we don't need to score more runs."

Much like that EDSBS post from yesterday afternoon, file this line away under "Things I wish I'd written first" from the Jim Caple article linked in the comments above:

"In "Brother's Little Helper," a paranoid Bart shoots down a satellite that Major League Baseball was using to spy on everyone. Mark McGwire, however, calms the public by landing in a helicopter and asking: "Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?"

The crowd's response: "Dingers! Dingers!"

(By the way, wouldn't it have been awesome had McGwire delivered the same line when he testified before Congress? Had he done so, he might be going into Cooperstown this weekend.)"

This is the first year in a while where Ihave thought the gators might be unstoppable or they might stink up the joint. I really have no idea. At least I have it set up at work to take the weekend off for the UGA and FSU games.

I wonder if there was a huge scandal with hockey would anyone care?

Best Simpsons episode has to be the one with stephen hawking where at the end I think Carl says "lets obliterate the literati". I downloaded the simpsons movie the other night on soulseek and it was pretty funny. I think it will surprise some people with how much better the movie is than a lot of the regular shows have been.

My guess is the Red Sox would trade Lowell if they could land Teixeira... but the Red Sox would definitely have to give up Clay Buchholz to get the deal done, and I don't see it happening.

The Angels could deal Ervin Santana, Casey Kotchman, and potentially Nick Adenhart or Brandon Wood to get a deal done. That to me makes a whole lot more sense. Same is true for the Dodgers, who could deal any combination of Loney, Andy LaRoche, or maybe even Clayton Kershaw/Chad Billingsley. No doubt the Rangers would want a potential ace in the making for Teixeira.

Another deal to watch out for would be the Yankees, who could probably put together a package not including Phil Hughes that would get the deal done.

If the NHL want to get back on the Who's Now Network's good side, they need "personalities" like Ray Emery to be just good enough to justify the story behind them. Consider:

-- Reached the Stanley Cup Finals in his first full year as the starter.-- Has a pet python-- Fought then-Sabres goalie Martin Biron and Sabres goon Andrew Peters back-to-back.-- Got in a fender-bender in his Hummer after over-sleeping and almost missing a flight to New Jersey in the 2nd round of this year's playoffs.-- Drove his bright orange Lamborghini for the rest of the playoffs.-- Is rapidly climbing the Don Cherry Scale for Game-Day Wardrobe Outrageousness-- Got in trouble for wearing a mask with convicted rapist and ear-biter Mike Tyson on the crown.

Will he be a top-5 goalie? He doesn't have to be. "Razor being Razor" as a top-10 goalie is enough to get ESPN's frequently-diverted attention, and that's what the NHL needs.

Lowell or Youkillis would be traded if they got Texeria or Cabrera. My guess is you could try and send Lowell with another prospect to san diego who could use another bat and get back a pitcher like Linebrink to help solidify the bullpen even more.

with the new proposed "+1" system that might happen, how would those games play out? Would they play the game a week after the regular BCS bowls (placing that smack dab in the middle of the NFL playoffs) or would they play the games say in the middle of December and have the championship game during the regular BCS championship? just something to think about if you hate the current system.

Best simpson quotes"me fail english? that's unpossible""Duffman is thrusting in the direction of the problem!""sacralicious"

I know you're a rediculous homer but doesn't Florida have like 8 starters back and a QB who has never taken a snap on a down that doesn't start with "3rd" and end "and 2" or "and goal"? You can spell Capital One and Outback without UF, but that's where they'll end up anyway.

Carolina Hurricanes' centre Eric Staal and younger brother, Pittsburgh Penguins' Jordan Staal, were among 14 people arrested in Cook County, Minnesota Monday after the elder Staal's bachelor party got out of hand. Both brothers were charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process, while Jordan was also charged with consumption of alcohol while under 21 years of age.

Seriously, the only way the NHL could get ink (or cyber ink) with a scandal these days is if Sid Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Ricky D and a bunch of other "young stars" were caught gambling on fighting pitbulls that had been pumped full of steroids.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.